Chapter 686: The Octopus That Crawled Away

Ye Yaodong, dragging his weary body, had not yet stepped through the door when, just passing the doorways of his eldest and second brothers' homes, a group of children excitedly ran over and surrounded him.

"Third Uncle~"

"Third Uncle~"

"Third Uncle~ We caught so many octopuses this afternoon..."

"Third Uncle, there really were octopuses in the earthen jars, so many..."

"Dad, I caught some too, I caught the most~"

"Third Uncle..."

Surrounded by a crowd of children, each one calling out "Third Uncle" or "Dad" in a chaotic clamor, Ye Yaodong's head felt like it was about to explode; his features crumpled into a knot until, after listening for a while, he realized they were talking about octopuses.

"Stop, stop, stop, I get it; you went to the beach this afternoon to collect bottles and jars, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes~"

"Yeah, Third Uncle... you're truly amazing... Third Uncle, you have no idea how many octopuses were in there..."

"So many of the bottles and jars had octopuses inside; so amazing, Third Uncle, you're so amazing..."

"Third Uncle, you're so amazing..."

Ye Yaodong rubbed his temples. "Stop, stop, stop; can you take turns speaking? Don't have one person say a sentence, then another, all talking at once like this; it's giving me a headache, and I'm already exhausted..."

Saying this, he lifted his foot and walked toward his own doorway, calling for them to follow.

Only when he sat in the rocking chair did he let out a long sigh, then waved to the group of children. "Hurry over here and give me a shoulder rub and leg knead, then tell me: how many octopuses did each of you catch today?"

"Five, Third Uncle, I caught five~" Ye Ye Chenghai excitedly leaned close to rub his shoulders, repeatedly emphasizing that he had caught five.

"Dad, I caught the most; I caught six Xiao Bai Zhang octopuses, plus one really big one; Mom said it was a Red Zhang, so amazing, I'm the most amazing!"

"You had the most jars, so of course you caught more."

Ye Yaodong was surprised; Ye Chenghu had actually caught six Xiao Bai Zhang and one Red Zhang, that many?

However, thinking of his string of jars, big and small, totaling over twenty, it wasn't strange; there were more than ten milk powder jars alone, and Yangyang hadn't competed with him; he had monopolized all the bottles and jars, while next door, their three siblings had to share.

With more jars, catching a few more was normal.

"I caught three..."

"Third Uncle, I also caught three..."

"I only have two..."

"There were only two in my jar..."

Each child, face flushed with excitement, was busy rubbing shoulders or kneading feet, talking while working, overjoyed.

Originally, after so much time, the excitement had already faded, but seeing Ye Yaodong return, they couldn't help but want to share with him again; the more they spoke, the more excited they became, the more they thought, the happier they felt.

Ye Father stood in the courtyard, glaring at Ye Yaodong with envy and gloom; he hadn't even enjoyed such treatment yet; his own back and waist ached too; these grandchildren had no sense; after all, he was the grandfather, yet the grandfather had less presence than the uncle.

However, he truly hadn't expected that these children had actually caught quite a few octopuses.

Originally, he thought they were just too idle, listening to Dongzi's goading, playing around with a little fuss, but now the harvest was actually quite good?

Gathered all together, there were over twenty octopuses.

That number was not small; today, dragging the nets all day, there were only a dozen or so octopuses in the fishing net, and among those they caught, there were Bai Zhang, Red Zhang, and Black Zhang; if sold, they could fetch a few yuan.

Ye Yaodong was also very happy; originally, he had just wanted to find them something to do, letting them play around, yet the harvest was so good.

"When you came back from school, was the tide going out just then?"

"Yes, yes, as soon as school ended, we ran straight back."

Lin Lin Xiuqing also stood at the door, smiling and saying, "Normally school ends at four, and dawdling, they wouldn't get home until five; today at 4:10, they were all home. And one by one, they threw down their schoolbags and ran straight to the beach; no one could stop them; Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao chased out with whips, but couldn't call them back."

"But those fools, as soon as they returned, presented their treasures; just in time for their mothers to take them to the dock and sell them together with their fathers' catch."

Ye Mother was also in the courtyard, sorting through the catch they had brought back today, preparing to help kill what needed killing, speaking coolly.

Those words truly chilled the hearts of several children.

Originally joyful, beaming smiles instantly turned to tears unshed; all that work for nothing, nothing left, not even a bite to eat.

"If only we had taken them to Third Aunt's house, let Third Aunt help us sell them; damn it."

"My mom is so annoying..."

"My mom is so annoying too..."

"Shh, shh, speak quietly; Mom will hear..."

"They were all sold?"

"Mine weren't, mine weren't, they're here; Dad~ mine are here; I want to raise them, raise them bigger, let them spawn baby octopuses, spawn lots of baby octopuses, then we'll get rich..."

After Ye Chenghu excitedly finished speaking, he quickly ran to the corner, fetched a bucket, face shining, and presented it to Ye Yaodong as if showing off a treasure.

"Such lofty ambitions? Raising them to wait for offspring to get rich?"

Ye Yaodong looked over with a helpless smile, and everyone else also leaned their heads over.

Big and small heads all squeezed together; their octopuses had all been sold, so they could only look enviously at Ye Chenghu's.

"Eh, one big one is missing."

"Yes, one Red Zhang is missing; where did it crawl to?"

"The Red Zhang ran away?"

The children glanced once and immediately noticed the largest one was missing from the bucket, then started talking all at once.

"Oh my? The Red Zhang ran away? Quick, look; where could it have gone? This is such a small place; quick, look..." Ye Mother also quickly put down the cleaver and joined the search.

Adults and children instantly scurried all over the courtyard searching for the Red Zhang.

However, whether because it was dark and the light was poor, or because they turned on flashlights plus the light spilling from inside the house, they searched the entire courtyard but saw no sign of the Red Zhang.

"Could it have crawled away, climbed over the wall and escaped?"

"We've already searched every nook and cranny..."

"Did those dogs eat it?"

Ye Ye Chengyang ran over angrily, grabbed Da Da Heizi's dog head, and insisted on prying its mouth open. "Quick, let me see, let me see~"

Ye Chenghu also ran over. "You didn't sneak a bite, did you? If you sneak a bite, I'll beat you to death!"

Poor Da Da Heizi, under the pressure of the two brothers, could only stare with innocent, dewy eyes, open its dog mouth, and stick out its long tongue to prove its innocence.

"There's nothing here!"

"Check the other dogs' mouths too." Ye Ye Chenghai kept coming up with rotten ideas.

Ye Yaodong watched speechlessly as the silly boys went to pry open the other dogs' mouths.

"Stop messing around, don't listen to Brother Brother Ahai's nonsense. If a few dogs split it up and ate it, you won't see anything even if you pry their mouths open."

"Then what about my octopus?"

"It's probably hiding in some corner, it'll come out on its own later." Ye Yaodong stretched lazily, twisted a few times, turned his head, and called out for Ye Fu to eat first.

Exhausted — the moment he got back, he was pestered by these kids, listening to them brag about their great achievements.

Ye Fu: I'm even more tired. At least you got to sit down and enjoy our grandsons' service.

"Eat first, eat first, stop looking. It'll probably crawl out in a bit. It's already very late, the sky is completely dark…" Lin Lin Xiuqing also called them inside to eat first.

The three of them walked toward the house, but the group of kids still couldn't accept that the octopus had gotten away. They were still searching the yard, muttering to themselves: Where did it crawl off to? Where is it hiding? How is it so good at crawling…

They didn't bother with those kids anymore. Ye Yaodong said as he walked: "There's still a bucket on the cart, with some small shrimp inside. Remember to shell them later, peel out the meat and dry them into dried shrimp. Don't waste it."

"Got it."

"There's also a small green dragon inside. I caught it today. Remember to cook it for Xiao Jiu later."

"Ah? You caught a small green dragon today too?"

"Yeah, lucky. The shrimp trap caught them — only six. I sold five and deliberately kept the smallest one back for Xiao Jiu to eat. She's never tasted it before."

"She only has two teeth, like little grains of rice. How could she chew it?"

"Just tear it into small pieces. Or after it's cooked, peel out the meat and chop it into mush to feed her…"

At that moment, Ye Yaodong's voice suddenly stopped, followed by a surprised shout.

"Ah! Damn—!

!"

Immediately after, Lin Lin Xiuqing's and Ye Fu's voices rang out too.

"Ah! How is it here…"

"Oh my, how did it get on Xiao Jiu's hand…"

The three who had just entered the house all widened their eyes. They saw that in the standing cage by the table in front, a big octopus was crawling, and Ye Ye Xiaoxi, who was in the standing cage, was sitting there, her two small hands gripping one of its tentacles and tugging.

The octopus was also crawling up onto her, but she wasn't scared at all.

When she heard the adults' voices, she even widened her eyes and looked at them innocently.

Ye Yaodong was startled when he saw it. He quickly walked a few steps forward. "My goodness, aren't you scared?"

As he spoke, he grabbed the octopus that had already crawled onto her leg. But the octopus's suction ability was seriously strong — it clung tight wherever it was. He had to yank hard before he could pull it off Ye Ye Xiaoxi's leg.

"Dada dada~" Ye Ye Xiaoxi mumbled unclearly, and gripped the railing with both hands, standing up steadily.

"When did this thing crawl in? Didn't you notice?" Ye Yaodong held the tentacle that was flailing about, the octopus clinging desperately to his arm, and turned to ask Lin Lin Xiuqing.

Lin Lin Xiuqing looked completely blank. "I don't know… I was washing dishes earlier. When I heard you all coming back, I went out. I didn't turn around to see what she was doing."

Ye Yaodong was speechless.

Right under so many people's noses, it had crawled into the house, crawled onto Xiao Jiu, and Xiao Jiu wasn't scared at all — she was grabbing its tentacles and tugging them to play.

"Change her clothes. She's covered in the octopus's slime — filthy."

After saying that, he called out loudly toward the outside again: "Ye Chenghu, bring your bucket in. We found the octopus!"

"Ah! You found it?"

All the kids outside swarmed inside in a rush?

"It crawled into the house?"

"Oh my, we're silly too. We forgot to look inside the house — we only searched the yard."

"It's way too good at crawling, isn't it?"

"Hehe, good thing we found it. Dad, put it in quick. I want to raise it, raise it real big." Ye Chenghu had just run in for a look, then happily ran back out immediately to bring the bucket in to hold it.

"You really plan to keep it as a pet?"

"Yeah yeah, I want to raise it real big, then it'll have lots and lots of little octopuses, then the little octopuses will have lots and lots of teeny octopuses. That way, when I grow up, I'll get rich and won't have to work anymore…"

Ye Yaodong: "…"

What a wild train of thought!

Descendants upon descendants, endless…

"Not a bad idea. You've got a future. Then you raise it well. I'll wait for you to get rich and support me."

"Nonsense," Lin Lin Xiuqing glared at him exasperatedly. "You've corrupted them all."

"What's that got to do with me? Weren't you the one who said it? If he wants to keep a pet, just let him keep it. Why insist on eating it?" — Wang Ba

"How is this octopus the same? And there are seven in this bucket — that many could sell for quite a bit…"

"But Wang Ba is also very nourishing…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him — always arguing for the sake of it. How could she not know he was deliberately getting back at her for not letting him eat Wang Ba earlier?

Anyway, tomorrow she'd just cook it and say it died!

How could they really raise it? How can an octopus compare to Wang Ba? Wang Ba is so easy to raise.

Kids' words are just for listening — how can you take them seriously?